Algerian envoy to UN breaks down while reading letter from Gaza journalist killed by Israel

ISTANBUL

Algeria’s envoy to the UN on Wednesday broke down as he read a farewell letter by Palestinian journalist Mariam Abu Daqqa to her son Gaith, written before she was killed in an Israeli strike on Gaza’s Nasser Hospital earlier this week.

Abu Dagga, 33, was one of the five journalists killed in Israel's strike on Nasser Hospital in Gaza that left 20 Palestinians dead.

In a social media post days before her death, she wrote a farewell message to her 13-year-old son, words that Algeria’s UN envoy Amar Bendjama said “carried more truth than any official statement.”

"You are the heart and soul of your mother ... when I die, pray for me, not cry for me. And when you grow, when you marry, and when you have a daughter, name her Mariam, after me," Abu Dagga wrote in her letter, as Bendjama read aloud.

Struggling to hold back tears, Bendjama said Abu Dagga was armed only with a camera and protected only by a press vest, accusing Israel of targeting journalists to silence Gaza coverage and hide the ongoing genocide and famine.

"245 journalists have lost their lives. In late August, the IDF (Israeli army) deliberately killed six more. They are carrying nothing but word, but the image, and there is nothing but their voices," he said.

"This very Security Council did nothing after this crime," he added.

Bendjama also highlighted the case of 2-year-old Yazan Abu Foul, shown emaciated and shirtless in his father’s arms, asking council members to imagine the helplessness of watching a child fade away, calling it a reflection of Gaza’s grim reality.

Describing Gaza as a "living hell," he criticized the Security Council for becoming "a theatre of lamentation," and called for urgent steps to "impose a ceasefire, ensure large-scale humanitarian aid, and stop the genocide."

"To fail is to be complicit. To delay is to accept shame. To stop a genocide is not an option, it is an obligation," he added.

The council met Wednesday to discuss the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, with UN and humanitarian officials raising the alarm that famine is expanding across the besieged territory.

In all, 14 Security Council members sharply denounced “the use of starvation as a weapon of war,” and called “for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire,” the release of all hostages remaining in Gaza and a surge in humanitarian assistance.” The US was the sole member to refrain from signing the declaration.

Israel has killed nearly 63,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.